I have in mind being concerned about things such as global warming as it affects those across the globe from us, or any other globally spread occurrence that could spell disaster, more than the disaster relief agencies we have now; person to person empathy.

I like Peter's concentric circle involvement idea. And religion is much to contentious to be a binding force except to those parochially gathered.

I agree that empathy takes time to spread outside our concentric circles, a long time, as you suggest.

What I am delighted about is that we are having this discussion.

I don't see a loss of identity needing to occur, as it seems to be lodging in some of the more conservative folks across the globe.